The Art Guys will be bartending from Tom Marioni's installation "The Act of Drinking Beer with Friends is the Highest Form of Art" (1970-ongoing, the Smart Museum of Art, the University of Chicago) Friday evening at Blaffer Art Museum for the opening of "Feast: Radical Hospitality in Contemporary Art."

Photo By Laura Letinsky

Laura Letinsky's "Rome" (2009, Chromogenic print) is among works on view in "Feast: Radical Hospitality in Contemporary Art" at Blaffer Art Museum.

season opening production of Tom Stoppard's "The Real Thing," which begins previews Saturday.

Latin music

Salsa with soul

Marc Anthony has spent his career wearing different hats - and quite well, thank you very much. He's crooned everything from freestyle and salsa to pop ballads and dance music, both in English and Spanish. He's also proven a formidable actor, starring in films "Big Night," "Man on Fire" and "El Cantante," among others. Anthony's 11th studio album, "3.0," was released in July; it's his first original salsa album in more than a decade. 8 p.m. Thursday; Toyota Center, 1510 Polk; $60-$150; 866-446-8849 or houston toyotacenter.com.

Film

Houston proud

The Art Car Parade and other local landmarks figure into "Houston," a film about a corporate headhunter sent to recruit a local executive for a German car company. Jet lag and whiskey figure prominently in his attempts. Filmmaker Bastian Günther will introduce the movie, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. 6 and 7 p.m. Friday, 7 p.m. Saturday, 5 p.m. Sunday; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1001 Bissonnet; $7-$9; 713-639-7594 or mfah.org/films.

Fundraiser

Keep Calm/ Fight Cancer

Pam Robinson, owner of the beloved Walter's music venue, rallies some of the city's best bands for this benefit. Robinson has begun chemotherapy for stage 4 cancer. This three-day event will deliver 100 percent of the proceeds to Robinson to help pay medical bills. The lineup includes the Tontons, the Suffers, New York City Queens, Wild Moccasins, Feather Face and the Manichean (Friday); Pride Kills, Black Congress and Bury the Crown (Saturday); the Last Starfighter, Pbearadactyl and Nine Minutes (Sunday). There will be food trucks and several silent auctions. 7 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 6 p.m. Sunday; Walter's Downtown, 1120 Naylor; $10 daily; 713-222-2679 or waltersdowntown.com.

The comparisons between Café Tacvba and Radiohead are reductive for both bands. They share a fearlessness and a disinterest in making standard-issue rock. That's where the similarities end. Tacvba has plunged into electronic music on its latest album, the frenetic "El Objeto Antes Llamado Disco," which pits the progressive sounds against jangling guitars to stirring effect. For all the heady descriptors heaped upon the band's music, it always retains a dance pulse. 9 p.m. Sunday; Arena Theatre, 7326 U.S. 59; $49.50-$89.50; 713-772-5900 or arenahouston.com.

Thorny material

Kim Richey's new "Thorn in My Heart" album is informed by a beautiful weariness as she performs her vulnerable songs about characters who don't always have the best of luck. Richey, who has made a great variety of music since her 1995 self-titled debut album, seems particularly comfortable these days creating melodic roots music that embellishes her stories. 7:30 p.m. Saturday; McGonigel's Mucky Duck, 2425 Norfolk; $20-$22; 713-528-5999 or mcgonigels.com.

Theater

By the 'Book'

The Houston premiere of "The Book of Mormon," Broadway's biggest hit of the past five years, depicts two naive young Mormon missionaries who arrive in Uganda determined to do good but find the population more concerned with famine, poverty, AIDS and the violence of a brutal warlord. This unlikely subject matter gets the most outrageous treatment imaginable. 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sundays, through Sept. 15; Hobby Center, 800 Bagby; $45-$150; broadwayacrossamerica.com or 800-982-2787.

Houston Ballet opens its 44th season Thursday with four highly anticipated premieres, two of which feature the orchestra's first quartets. Associate choreographer Christopher Bruce has readied the American premiere of "Intimate Pages," a work to Leoš Janácek's String Quartet No. 2 that hasn't been performed in many years. James Kudelka will juxtapose contemporary and classical forms in his new "Passion," to Beethoven. Two popular dancers who have left the company also show their creative sides: Melissa Hough has made "...the third kind [is] useless" to a score by Gabriel Prokofiev, while Garrett Smith choreographed "Return" to music by John Adams. Fans are hoping they're all a 10. 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday; through Sept. 15. Wortham Theater Center, 501 Texas; $19-$190; 713-227-2787, houstonballet.org.

Art

Time to gorge on art

Get your art glasses on. A slew of fall shows opens this weekend. Hitting all the parties will require a plan of attack.

On Friday, may we suggest: Start at University of Houston's Blaffer Art Museum at 6 p.m. for the opening of "Feast: Radical Hospitality in Contemporary Art," where the Art Guys will be tending bar at Tom Marioni's installation "The Act of Drinking Beer With Friends Is the Highest Form of Art." Then check out "The Eleventh Hour," a trip back in time at DiverseWorks, 4102 Fannin, Suite 200. Offering a look at works by the many artists who have contributed to the organization's lively dialogue for 30 years, it opens at 7 p.m. A block away, at the Isabella Courts galleries (3909-3917 Main), the focus is on new works by Katrina Moorhead at Kerry Inman, Wayne White at David Shelton, Barry Stone at Art Palace and Todd Hebert at Devin Borden.

Catch the highest concentration of receptions at Gallery Row along Colquitt in the Upper Kirby District 5-8 p.m. Saturday. The offerings include Ann Ferrer's "Red Hot" exhibit of inflatable sculptures at Nicole Longnecker, mixed-media works by Jacqueline Dee Parker and Ward Sanders at Hooks-Epstein, a group show at McMurtrey, new drawings by Michael Bise at Moody and works by Randall Reid at d.m. allison art. Exciting shows open elsewhere as well; see the listings for more options. Free.